Mayor charged for criticizing police testifies in court

A Catalan mayor and three councilors accused by Spanish police of inciting hatred testified in court on Thursday. Reus mayor, Carles Pellicer, and the spokespeople of the PDeCat, ERC and Ara Reus political parties, Montserrat Vilella, Noemí Llauradó and Jordi Cervera, all appeared before a local judge but only answered questions put by their lawyers.

On leaving court, Pellicer argued that signing “a manifesto in favor of social harmony can never be considered an offense” and he said that he would do the same thing again in the same circumstances.

Outside, around a hundred people gathered to show their support for the officials, with a score of protesters calling the mayor and the councilors “traitors”.